William Huntingdon says, in his autobiography, that one of the sharpest sensations of pain that he felt, after he had been quickened by Divine grace, was this, “He felt such pity for God.”

I do not know that I ever met with the expression elsewhere, but it is a very striking one; although I might prefer to say that I have sympathy with God, and grief that He should be treated so ill.

Ah, there are many men that are forgotten, that are despised, and that are trampled on by their fellows; but there never was a man who was so despised as the everlasting God has been! Many a man has been slandered and abused, but never was man abused as God has been. Many have been treated cruelly and ungratefully, but never was one treated as our God has been.

I, too, once despised Him. He knocked at the door of my heart, and I refused to open it. He came to me, times without number, morning by morning, and night by night; He checked me in my conscience, and spoke to me by His Spirit, and when, at last, the thunders of the law prevailed in my conscience, I thought that Christ was cruel and unkind.

Oh, I can never forgive myself that I should have thought so ill of Him! But what a loving reception did I have when I went to Him! I thought He would smite me, but His hand was not clenched in anger, but opened wide in mercy.

I thought full sure that His eyes would dart lightning-flashes of wrath upon me; but, instead thereof, they were full of tears. He fell upon my neck, and kissed me; He took off my rags, and did clothe me with His righteousness, and caused my soul to sing aloud for joy; while in the house of my heart, and in the house of His Church, there was music and dancing, because His son that He had lost was found, and he that had been dead was made alive again.

Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from his diary, letters, and records, by his wife and his private secretary: Volume 1, 1834-1854 (101). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
—1 Corinthians 4:2

Then there are the men who are good but not great, and we may thank God that there are so many of them, being grateful not that they failed to achieve greatness but that by the grace of God they managed to acquire plain goodness.…

Every pastor knows this kind—the plain people who have nothing to recommend them but their deep devotion to their Lord and the fruit of the Spirit which they all unconsciously display. Without these the churches as we know them in city, town and country could not carry on. These are the first to come forward when there is work to be done and the last to go home when there is prayer to be made. They are not known beyond the borders of their own parish because there is nothing dramatic in faithfulness or newsworthy in goodness, but their presence is a benediction wherever they go. They have no greatness to draw to them the admiring eyes of carnal men but are content to be good men and full of the Holy Ghost, waiting in faith for the day that their true worth shall be known. When they die they leave behind them a fragrance of Christ that lingers long after the cheap celebrities of the day are forgotten.

Thank You, Lord, for the host of good people in our church! May each one be richly blessed of You today. Direct me to some today who I could thank for their faithfulness. Amen.

Tozer, A. W. (2001). Tozer on Christian leadership : A 366-day devotional. Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread.

Check out bcwe.org

The real father of modern missions might should be renamed. There was a black man named George Leile (Leisle) who was born a slave in Virginia in 1750.

In 1773 he was converted and began to preach!

George Leile and a white deacon named Wait Palmer organized the Silver Bluff Baptist Church somewhere between 1773 and 1775. This became the first Negro Baptist Church organized in the Americas and most likely even in the world.

George Leisle (Leile) sailed for Jamaica, B.W.I. Prior to this date, Mr. Sharp, Leisle’s master, had emancipated him, but when Mr. Sharp died, some members of the Sharp family attempted to re-enslave Rev. Leisle (Leile). After much intense prayer, two friends came to his rescue. A white man of Savannah loaned him $700.00 to get himself and family out of the country. The other was a British officer, a Colonel Kirkland, who told him of Jamaica, and the large Negro population there who were in deplorable conditions of ignorance and degeneracy.

In sailing to Jamaica to preach the Gospel, George Leisle became the first foreign missionary in modern times. Long before William Carey left England for India or David Livingston went to Africa; long before the American Baptist Mission Society was organized in Tremont Temple in Boston; before Adoniram Judson went to Burma, this Black Baptist preacher launched out as a trail blazer in modern missions. He organized the First African Baptist Church Kingston, Jamaica, B.W.I.

McBeth, H. L. (1990). A Sourcebook for Baptist heritage (590). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

You can get more information about this great man here.

and here